The Other Darrin / Puppet Shows

• Several characters from The Muppet Show are victims of this trope:
  • Richard Hunt took over the role of Janice after her previous performer, Eren Ozker, departed from the series.
  • Hunt would also alternate the role of Miss Piggy with Frank Oz throughout the first season of the show.
  • The role of Crazy Harry was played by John Lovelady for the series' first pilot and first season, Richard Hunt for the second pilot and Jerry Nelson for the remainder of the series (including the first season episode guest starring Harvey Korman).
  • Jerry Nelson played Statler in the series' second pilot. Nelson was unavailable for the first few weeks of the show's official production, leading Richard Hunt to fill in. Nelson would later reprise Statler after Hunt's death in 1992, until he himself retired in 2004.
  • Steve Whitmire performed several characters originated by other performers, such as Kermit the Frog, Beaker, Statler, Link Hogthrob and the Newsman from 1990 until 2016, when he was let go by Disney. Currently, only one of the characters he originated, Lips, has been recast and is now performed by Peter Linz.
  • After Richard Hunt's death, John Henson (one of Jim's sons) performed Sweetums until 2005. Noel MacNeal performed him briefly for A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa in 2008, before Matt Vogel eventually took over the role in 2009.
  • Currently, the majority of the original Muppet Show characters have been passed on to other performers:
    • Jim Henson's characters are shared between Matt Vogel (Kermit), Bill Barretta (Rowlf, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef, Mahna Mahna), Dave Goelz (Waldorf), Eric Jacobson (The Newsman) and Peter Linz (Link Hogthrob).
    • Frank Oz's characters (Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle, Marvin Suggs) are all currently performed by Eric Jacobson.
    • Jerry Nelson's characters (Floyd Pepper, Uncle Deadly, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Pops, etc.) are all currently performed by Matt Vogel. The most notable exception is Robin the Frog, who was performed by Vogel from 2008 to 2017 before being given over to Peter Linz when Vogel took over Kermit.
    • Richard Hunt's characters are currently shared between David Rudman (Scooter, Janice, Beaker), Peter Linz (Statler) and Matt Vogel (Sweetums).
    • The current core Muppet performers have also had stand-ins in the past, such as John Kennedy, Artie Esposito, Drew Massey, Victor Yerrid and Brett O'Quinn.

• Sesame Street:
  • Caroll Spinney was unavailable for at least one early episode, leaving Daniel Seagren to play Big Bird. From the late 1990s to 2014, Matt Vogel filled in as Big Bird whenever Spinney was absent, eventually taking over the role completely following Spinney's retirement in 2018.
  • In 2015, Eric Jacobson began filling in as Oscar the Grouch whenever Caroll Spinney was absent, eventually taking over the role completely following Spinney's retirement in 2018.
  • In the early 1990s, Steve Whitmire took over the roles of Ernie and Kermit the Frog after the death of Jim Henson. From 2014 when Whitmire was let go by Sesame Workshop until 2017, Ernie was performed by Billy Barkhurst. Since 2017, Ernie has been performed by Peter Linz.
  • In 1992, David Rudman took over the role of Sonny Friendly after the death of Richard Hunt later in the 23rd season.
  • As Frank Oz's directing schedule became busier, he gave Bert and Grover to Eric Jacobson in the late 1990s. In the early 2000s, David Rudman began performing Cookie Monster. As Oz's last known official performance for Sesame Street was in 2013, Jacobson and Rudman are now considered the permanent official performers for his characters. Rudman's takeover of Cookie Monster did have the side effect of Baby Bear (David Rudman's other major Sesame Street character) being almost relegated to a recurring character.
  • Before his character was fully established, Elmo went through the hands of several performers throught the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Brian Muehl, Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt. In 1984, Kevin Clash created the Elmo voice and personality that audiences are more familiar with. Since Clash's departure from Sesame Street in 2012, Elmo has been performed by Ryan Dillon.
  • Mr. Snuffleupagus was originally performed by Jerry Nelson. During the late 1970s, Nelson gave the character to Michael Earl, who played Snuffy for two years. Martin P. Robinson, Snuffy's current performer, finally took over the role in 1981.
  • Gordon, who has been played by four different actors: Garrett Saunders (test episode, taped in the summer of 1969), Matt Robinson (1969-1972), Hal Miller (1972-1974) and Roscoe Orman (1974-2016). Orman has become the definitive Gordon; in fact, many people don't even know that anybody but Orman ever played the character and even fewer were aware that Gordon was played by another actor in the test show until 2011, when a campaign began to identify him.
  • Gordon's adopted son Miles was originally played by Roscoe Orman's own son (also named Miles). The role was later given to Imani Patterson and then to Olamide Faison.
  • Similarly, Maria and Luis' daughter Gabi was played by Sonia Manzano (Maria)'s own daughter, Gabriela Rose Regan. Later, she was portrayed by Desiree Casado. For Gabi's first appearance, she was played by sound effects man Dick Maitland's newborn son.
  • Mr. Handford, the owner of Hooper's Store during the 1990s, was played by Leonard Jackson for one season. David L. Smyrl took over the role for Handford's remaining appearances.
  • Initially, one of the options the producers and writers of the show considered in response to the death of actor Will Lee, who played beloved shopkeeper Mr. Hooper, was to cast another actor. When all was said and done, this was passed upon and the legendary episode addressing Hooper's death resulted.
  • In 2004, Jerry Nelson suffered emphysema and became unable to perform his characters. He gave them to Matt Vogel but continued to do the voices of those characters until his death on August 24, 2012. Vogel now remains as the voice and puppeteer of those characters.
  • In his debut episodes, Marco, Gina's adopted son, was played by adopted Guatemalan twins, Ashlynn and Caleb. Starting with Season 38, Marco has been played by a young boy named Matthew.
  • When Fran Brill retired in 2014, Stephane D'Abruzzo took over the role of Prairie Dawn while Jennifer Barnhart took over the role of Zoe.
• Fraggle Rock:
  • Ma Gorg was voiced by Myra Fried in the first season, with Cheryl Wagner taking over the role in the second season.
  • The Storyteller Fraggle was performed by Richard Hunt in her first appearance, with Terry Angus taking over afterward.
  • Murray the minstrel was performed by Steve Whitmire in the first two seasons, but when he returned in the fifth season Gord Robertson took over the role — though the snippet of "Let Me Be Your Song" still features Whitmire's vocals.
  • After Jerry Nelson's death, John Tartaglia took on the role of Gobo for all subsequent appearances of the character, starting with The Hub's 30th anniversary marathon in April 2013, and an appearance at the Museum of the Moving Image the next month.
  • For Rock On!, Frankie Cordero replaces Whitmire (who was fired from the Muppets in 2016) as Wembley, and Donna Kimball replaces Mullen as Mokey. Boober and Traveling Matt are still voiced by Goelz, but now puppeteered by Tartaglia.
    • Cordero was unable to participate in Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock due to his involvement with Donkey Hodie, so the role of Wembley for the 2022 mini-series was offered to Jordan Lockhart, who had previously auditioned for Rock On! but was not cast (he also performs Murray the Troubadour, also originated by Steve Whitmire). Tartaglia, Kimball, Prell and Goelz reprise their roles once more, although Boober and Traveling Matt are now puppeteered by Frank Meschkuleit, another veteran of the original show (except in some episodes where Muppet veteran Kevin Clash puppeteers Matt). More characters from the original show also returned, including Doc, Sprocket, Marjory and her attendants, the Gorgs, and several of the Doozers, all with new performers.
• The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: Kathryn Mullen left after the first season (aside from directing a few Season 2 episodes) to pursue other projects; most notably, she co-created Between the Lions with her husband. Her characters were either written out or were split between Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, and (in the case of Junior Kangaroo) Tim Lagasse. Meanwhile, Bruce Lanoil's characters were handed over to Martin P. Robinson and Tim Lagasse.
• Excluding the redubbed half-hour versions from the '90s, this occurred twice within the original Thunderbirds universe:
  • Virgil Tracy was voiced by David Holliday for the entirety of season one before quitting for disputed reasons^note some sources say it was due to a pay dispute, others say he wanted to return to America. He was replaced for the second season and in the two feature films, Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6, by Jeremy Wilkin.
  • John Tracy and recurring villain the Hood were voiced by the late Ray Barrett from the series' inception until Thunderbirds Are GO; for Thunderbird 6, Keith Alexander took over John Tracy's role while Gary Files voiced the Hood in his brief appearance.
• P.P.A. in Star Fleet briefly had a different voice actor from Episodes 7-10, replacing John Baddeley (presumably replaced by Sean Barrett, who voiced Captain Orion in the series). Although the voice is a passable enough imitation Baddeley's voice, it sounds rather congested in comparison to Baddeley's voice.

• LazyTown:
  • Stephanie Meanswell was originally played by Shelby Young in the unaired pilot to the series, then by Julianna Rose Mauriello in the show proper for the first 2 seasons. When the show was Un-Canceled in 2013, Chloe Lang took over the role as Julianna had gotten too old to play Stephanie.
  • Sportacus was played by series creator Magnus Scheving from the series' beginning all the way until 2014 when he retired from the role. Dyri Kristjansson has played Sportacus ever since.
  • Averted with Robbie Rotten, who was consistently played by Stefan Karl Stefannson throughout the entire series. Most of the puppet characters have also never had replacement voice actors.
  • The Latin Spanish dub switched dubbing studios to The Kitchen Inc. in Miami from DINT Doblajes Internacionales in Chile after the series was uncancelled. As a result, everybody was re-cast and the first two seasons were re-dubbed (though Boomerang and Cartoon Network aired season 2 using an alternate Venezuelan dub of the season that was made by The Kitchen's Caracas studio for V-Me, that alternate dub is also used for season 2 on HBO Max).

• For The Big Comfy Couch's seventh and final season, Ramona Gilmour-Darling took over the role of Loonette due to Alyson Court being unavailable because she was raising her kids at the time. Ramona's performance wound up radically changing Loonette's personality, which many fans were not pleased with.

• The Banana Splits:
  • Fleegle was voiced by Paul Winchell in both the original series and the Made-for-TV Movie The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park. He was subsequently replaced with Keith Scott for the 2008 reboot and Eric Bauza for the 2019 movie. In his appearance in Jellystone!, Scott and Bauza were replaced with Paul F. Thompkins.
  • Bingo was voiced by Daws Butler in both the original series and The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park. He was subsequently replaced with Keith Scott for the 2008 reboot and Eric Bauza for the 2019 movie. In his appearance in Jellystone!, both Scott and Bauza were replaced with Jim Conroy.
  • Drooper was voiced by Alan Melvin in both the original series and The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park. He was subsequently replaced with Karl Wiedergott for the 2008 reboot and Eric Bauza for the 2019 movie. In his appearance in Jellystone!, both Wiedergott and Bauza were replaced with series creator C. H. Greenblatt.

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